While there’s a definite whiff of frugality in the air during these uncertain times, and it’s now considered admirable to be a recessionista instead of a fashionista, there will always be some things that continue to issue an irresistible pull. Of these the most insidious is the “impulse item”; those small, relatively inexpensive, pieces of flotsam and jetsam that lurk near cash registers. Like sirens calling sailors to their doom they are impossible to avoid and after waiting in line beside them for five minutes it is virtually certain that one will leave the store with you.

Case in point, on a recent trip to Urban Outfitters as I waited in line at the register I found myself transfixed by a bowl filled with bottles of neon nail polish. As it sat on the counter I tried to ignore the thoughts of searing pink, or blue, or green nails that were flitting through my head. But it was all in vain, it would have taken a strong will to ignore them, certainly a stronger will than I possess. The neon yellow came home with me. Just in time for me to realize that neon yellow nails and pale skin create the impression of jaundice; not quite the look I’d imagined.